Yeah, the alloy confirms what the date suggests - that its unofficial, and also that it's not modern (well, duh - default assumption would be that it was contem

Yeah, the alloy confirms what the date suggests - that its unofficial, and also that it's not modern (well, duh - default assumption would be that it was contemporary with the coins it was trying to pass as). The suggestion that this counterfeit was produced abroad since "nickel silver wasn't widely used for [official] coins in Peru" seems to be an entirely illogical conclusion! We already know it's a counterfeit, so practices of the official mint are irrelevant. Default assumption, absent any other evidence, would be that it was produced domestically as most counterfeits are. Slow news day at the NY Times I suppose, although better way to fill the pages than speculating about Taylor Swift's sexuality.